


Haunting of Avengers Tower

by Kevy_Grayce



Series: One Shots [5]
Category: Avengers (Comics), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers Tower, BAMF Natasha Romanov, Boogaras and Shaniacs, Bruce Banner & Tony Stark Friendship, Bruce Banner Is a Good Bro, Bucky Barnes Is Trying His Best, Buzzfeed Unsolved References, Buzzfeed Unsolved Supernatural, Buzzfeed Unsolved True Crime, Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Comic Clint Barton, Deaf Clint Barton, Fluff, Gen, Ghosts, Halloween, IronDad and SpiderSon, Irondad, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Paranormal Investigators, Parent Tony Stark, Peter is a Little Shit, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Rhodey is an MIT graduate too, Scary Movies, Spooky, Steve Rogers & Sam Wilson Friendship, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, spiderson, spoops, steve rogers is both a grandpa and a babysitter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 08:36:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21250520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kevy_Grayce/pseuds/Kevy_Grayce
Summary: The Avengers spend a late Halloween night watching BuzzFeed Unsolved, exchanging in the usual banter, until their fun is interrupted by a series of alarms. F.R.I.D.A.Y., however, doesn't know why the alarms went off in the first place. With every spooky adventure comes poor decision, theirs being the choice to split up into groups to find what could have triggered the security system. Team Tony, Team Steve, and Team Natasha explore an eerie, empty Avenger's Tower in the middle of the night in hopes of solving this mystery.





	Haunting of Avengers Tower

**Author's Note:**

  * For [vanillabean_97](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=vanillabean_97).

> HAPPY HALLOWEEN!🎃🧡🖤 Hey everyone and welcome back!! Today, we have a long but entertaining story that has taken a good amount of time to complete. As you can probably tell, it's BuzzFeed Unsolved themed!! AND GUESS WHAT! I DREW ART for this for fun and ended up liking it enough to post it, so feel free to check out Buzzfeed Unsolved Tony and Peter on my social media accounts :) link: https://www.instagram.com/p/B4SyXmmAbd2/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
> 
> We have TEN characters to join along on this journey and boy was it a challenge. I haven't ever written this many characters at once, especially at one time, but it was an absolute blast :) There are also quite a few of these characters who I've never written before, so it was definitely a learning experience! Either way, I hope you have fun with this story and that you all have/had a magnificent October 31st!
> 
> This one shot is the first of many to come to tide us over until When Trauma Comes Knocking is complete. The one shot release schedule is posted on my Instagram (kevy_fanfics), Tumblr (kevyfanfics), and Twitter (Kevy_Fanfics). The next upcoming one shot is a very exciting one titled Tony in the Tulips, scheduled for November 15th!
> 
> Have fun and stay safe ❤🧡💛💚💙💜

**PENTHOUSE, 57TH FLOOR: 9:18 PM**

“Come on, it’ll be great! There's nothing more scary than something alive that shouldn't be alive,” Clint tries to prove his point, sitting on the floor in front of the flat screen TV. Sam scoffs at Clint’s attempt to convince him.

“No way I'm watching no creepy doll,” he instantly denies. “I don't care what its name is.” He crosses his arms and sinks further into the couch. Natasha rolls her eyes at both of their arguing.

“Her name is Anabelle and she isn't alive, she's possessed by a demon,” she corrects monotonously. As they try to figure out what to watch, Tony continues to scroll through their options. Of course, since it’s his penthouse and his TV, he insisted on controlling the remote. On either side of him sits Peter and Rhodey while Natasha has Bruce to her left and Sam to her right. That leaves Sam and Bucky seated next to each other with their arms crossed and Steve sitting on the end.

“The movie’s wrong anyways,” Peter speaks up. “Annabelle is a Raggedy Ann Doll in real life. I saw it on _ Buzzfeed Unsolved. _ Way creepier if you ask me.” Tony snorts humorously at Peter’s endless knowledge, but Sam rolls his eyes.

“Well no one was asking you,” Sam counters bitterly.

“Hey,” Tony interjects, “play nice.” He halfheartedly reprimands the two without taking his eyes off of the many horror movie choices.

“That's okay, Mr. Stark.” Peter smiles innocently. “He's just still mad about how I kicked his a-”

_ “Language!” _Tony and Steve both interrupt to scold in unison. They glance at each other briefly.

“Christ, I'm turning into Gramps,” Tony grumbles, then looks back to the screen. Peter loves getting a rise out of them and beams with pride.

“Yeah?” Sam challenges with raised eyebrows. “You want a rematch? Let's go.”

“My money’s on the kid,” Rhodey chimes in nonchalantly. He tosses a piece of popcorn into his mouth, not particularly interested in the movie debate.

“Me too,” Clint agrees with his mouth full of m&m’s and raises his hand slightly. With a smirk, Peter puts his hands behind his head and leans back.

“I wouldn't mind seeing Sam get beat by a twelve year old again,” Bucky adds in an amused mumble. Steve chuckles lightly and tries to hold back his smile. However, Sam instantly turns his glare on Bucky.

“The same twelve year old crushed you into the ground, too. I’ll take you both on, Grannie,” he fires back, pleased with his jab.

“I'm not twelve,” Peter pouts. As always, he isn't opposed to taking on Sam’s challenge, but it seems like Tony is about to blow a gasket. He pats Tony’s back twice reassuringly, though his mentor’s demeanor doesn't seem to change much.

“What about _ Shutter Island?” _ Bruce suggests. “It’s more of a psychological thriller, but there's Leonardo DiCaprio and this interesting actor named-”

“It’s Halloween. We’re looking for a scary movie, not an intellectual experience, Brucey,” Tony turns down, pressing the arrow button on the remote over and over again. Natasha nudges Bruce slightly and gives him a small smile.

“I thought it was a good option,” she reassures, much to Bruce’s appreciation.

“What about that weird eighties one?” Rhodey attempts to recall the movie title. He snaps his fingers a few times, then points at Tony. _ “Nightmare on Elm Street.” _ Tony’s nose crinkles in disgust while Clint shrugs.

“I'm fine with slashers. The eighties were the best,” Clint complies, taking a sip of his coffee before setting it back down on the floor.

“Spill that and I’ll make you clean it up, Barton,” Tony warns. Still, he seems relatively disinterested in following through.

“As long as it’s not that doll movie,” Sam gives in begrudgingly.

“Do you know any of the movies they're talking about?” Steve whispers to Bucky, who’s slumped with half-lidded, bored eyes while the others debate.

“Nope.” Bucky pops the “p” and sighs. “Why can't they just watch _ King Kong _ or, I don't know, _ Wizard of Oz.” _It comes out as more of a defeated statement than a question. Steve simply shrugs a shoulder.

“Oh!” Peter suddenly exclaims, causing Tony to jump. “We could binge _ Buzzfeed Unsolved: Supernatural! _ It’s a series on YouTube but it’s got these really funny guys named Shane and Ryan and they talk about, like, ghost stories and hauntings!” Everyone stares at the energetic teen who has a wide smile on his face.

“Isn't Buzzfeed that crappy article, clickbait website?” Tony questions cautiously.

“Well, yeah, but! But they have a cool series,” Peter tries to convince them. “They talk about history a lot,” he gestures to Bruce, “and Dr. Banner likes historical accuracies. And, and ghost stories are super old so Captain Rogers and Mr. Barnes will like it! Not that you guys are old but, okay, yeah, you're kinda old. But you guys look great for your age.” Bucky and Steve glance to each other. “Plus Shane and Ryan are hilarious so you, Mr. Barton, and Colonel Rhodes will love the humor,” Peter directs at Tony.

“Rhodey,” the Colonel corrects for what feels like the thousandth time that night.

“Right. Sorry. And Ryan gets scared and screams a lot, so I thought you’d appreciate that, Ms. Romanoff,” Peter finishes and wrings his hands together, suddenly feeling self-conscious. Natasha smirks nonetheless.

“I do like watching men who think they're tough scream,” she admits slyly. Sam waits impatiently, but finally speaks up when he doesn't hear a reasoning for himself.

“What about me?” he inquires. Peter’s smile grows.

“Most of the supernatural episodes have to do with demonic possessions and creepy things. I just wanna see you freak out,” he reveals mischieviously as his legs bounce. Sam smiles and shakes his head before saying,

“You're starting a war, little man.”

“I'm not little!” Peter immediately disagrees.

“Alright, alright. Behave, children,” Tony steps in. “You’ve convinced me, kid. Guys?” He looks to his sides, and it seems the answer is unanimous when everyone nods in agreement. “All yours,” he says as he hands the remote to Peter.

“Awesome! There should be a new episode out today, too.” Peter eagerly takes the remote and starts searching on YouTube. Turns out, the newest video is about…

“You've got to be kidding me,” Sam mutters, holding his head in his hands.

“This is a joke, right?” Bucky asks as he stares at the screen in shock. For some reason, Steve and Natasha start laughing.

“I mean,” Natasha starts, “it could be worse,” she tries to comfort between chuckles.

“This’ll be…interesting,” Tony settles on, not quite sure how else to interpret it.

“I'm so sorry, Mr. Barnes,” Peter apologizes profusely. “I had no idea the episode would be about, well, you. Do you wanna watch something else? ‘Cause we can ju-”

“Nuh uh. No. I want to see this,” Sam interrupts Peter’s anxiously rambling. “If I have to watch this, I want to be able to make fun of him while I do it,” he reasons. Bucky grumbles under his breath, but doesn't protest.

“‘The Mysterious Disappearance of James Buchanan Barnes,’” Bruce reads aloud. Clint laughs on the floor in front of them and pours more candy into his hand.

“This should be fun,” he snickers, eating the candy. At this rate, there won't be any snacks for the rest of them. Rhodey simply eats his popcorn silently, but waits in anticipation.

“We can see how accurate they are,” Steve proposes amusedly, trying to get Bucky to lighten up a bit. Peter awaits confirmation while looking between the two. With a sigh, Bucky nods.

“Yeah, sure. How bad could it be?” At that, Peter presses play and gets comfortable again. The lights dim without having to be asked and the video starts with the signature werewolf howl and title screen.

_ “This week on Buzzfeed Unsolved, we investigate Crocker's Folly Pub in Brooklyn, New York as part of our ongoing investigation into the question: Are ghosts real?,” _ Ryan begins the episode as he always does. Peter is practically vibrating with excitement, but Bucky’s eyebrows pull together and he leans towards Steve.

“What do I have to do with ghosts?” he whispers in confusion. Steve shakes his head, unable to answer.

_ “This pub is the very same location where Steve Rogers, better known as Captain America, and his best friend James “Bucky” Barnes spent a good amount of their time during World War Two. We’ll explore Bucky Barne’s past as well as his mysterious and untimely death during the war.” _

_ “Well, if he’s dead then case closed!” _Shane adds in his two cents, already standing up from his chair as Ryan laughs.

“That’s good enough for me,” Sam announces. “No Bucky Barnes in sight.” Natasha shushes him and elbows him in the side.

_ “I think you’ll be surprised at how much evidence we have for this one,” _ Ryan says with a wide smile.

_ “By all means, convince me. Some classic comic book stories. Whatcha got?” _ Shane challenges.

_ “Let’s get into it.” _ With that, the group watches intently as Ryan recounts the story of Captain America and Bucky Barnes. Peter is on the edge of the sofa as he watches, and surprisingly everyone else seems decently intrigued as well. Every once in a while, Steve and Bucky chuckle at misinformation, causing the rest to glance at them in bemusement. But it’s nothing compared to when Ryan gets to the theories.

_ “There have been surprising sightings with photo evidence of someone who looks convincingly like Bucky Barnes with long hair and a silver sleeve. Some theorize that the government brought Bucky back to life or even cloned him to create a soldier.” _ An extremely blurry picture of the Winter Soldier is shown on screen. _ “Another theory is that Bucky still haunts the pub to this day, still waiting for Captain America to return home. Whispers have been heard throughout the building and cold spots are frequently felt. Some claim that these cold spots are due to Bucky Barnes dying in the snowy mountains.” _ Steve and Bucky instantly bust out laughing, Bucky almost tearing up.

“I guess I'm a ghost,” Bucky laughs out, trying to get a deep breath in.

“So nice of you to wait for me,” Steve agrees as he clutches his chest. Bruce, on the other hand, seems perplexed.

“Why would cold spots indicate ghosts? There's natural explanations for rapid temperature variations in-”

“On that note,” Clint cuts Bruce’s scientific reasoning short and stands, “I’m gonna get more snacks.” As soon as he obscures everyone’s view of the TV, they all start complaining and shouting for him to move out of the way.

“Don't burn down my kitchen!” Tony calls after him.

“Yeah, yeah.” Clint leaves the room and Peter inches forward on his seat even more.

“Easy there or you’ll fall off,” Tony absentmindedly warns him. As Shane is about to enter the “haunted” pub, he puts on his yellow-tinted glasses from the previous episode and Ryan snickers.

_ “You're back with the knock-off Tony Stark glasses again?” _

“Ha!” Tony openly laughs, causing Rhodey to cringe.

“Sure, let’s feed his ego even more. That's nice,” Rhodey complains with a sigh.

“See,” Tony continues nonetheless, “even when it’s not about me, it’s still about me.” His egotistical demeanor increases by at least tenfold and he puts his hands comfortably behind his head. For some reason, Peter starts to feel a buzzing at the base of his skull. He rolls out his neck to see if it goes away. Distantly, he wonders if it could be due to the fact that they're watching something spooky, but he watches this show all the time. Why would his Spidey Sense be reacting to it out of nowhere?

Then, the lights start to flicker.

“Uh, Mr. Stark…why are the lights doing that?” he asks uneasily. Tony narrows his eyes in confusion and raises an eyebrow. They all look up at the flickering lights, but they've dealt with much worse than faulty wiring. The only uneasy one is Peter.

“Fri?” Tony prompts anyways.

“My systems are fully operational, Boss,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. confirms without hesitation. The flickering only intensifies with her answer and both Tony and Steve stand.

“Does this normally happen?” Natasha inquires, not jumping to any conclusions yet. Although, she looks up at the ceiling skeptically. Peter rubs his exposed arms as goosebumps spread across his skin. Something just feels _ wrong. _ Sam shakes his fervently and purses his lips.

“Any freaky shit happens and I’m calling the wings,” he promises as his eyes dart between the lights.

“And do_ what?” _ Bucky questions, “Fly through five foot wide hallways?” he points out like it’s more than obvious. Instead of responding, Sam chooses to flip him off. Steve immediately gives them both a side glare, but also wonders if he’ll need his shield.

“Both of you, just, be quiet,” Tony grits out. He’s trying to think of the best course of action. “Someone could be hacking into the Tower and F.R.I.D.A.Y..” Peter tunes out the conversation in hopes that his Spidey Sense will help him figure out what direction the mild danger is coming from. Regardless of his concentration, the potential danger seems to be originating from nowhere in particular, but more so from all around them.

“And she isn't detecting it?” Bruce wonders. “That doesn't make sense.” The physicist makes a fair point, but Ultron attacked J.A.R.V.I.S. right from under their noses before.

“Whatever we’re gonna do, we better do it quick,” Rhodey cuts in with a tense voice. That seems to set the team into motion while the lights strobe faster.

“I’ll get my shield,” Steve announces, already vaulting over the couch to get past it faster. Peter looks up and deliberates if he should get his suit or tell Tony about his reacting Spidey Sense first.

“I’ll call the suit. Bruce, you-” Tony begins but is cut off by hysterical laughter. The lights suddenly return to normal, but Peter still feels that sense of distant yet impending doom. Everyone else’s eyes hone in on the source of the cackling, where Steve is also standing with his arms firmly crossed.

“You, you should've seen the look on your guys’ faces!” Clint says between gasps of laughter and wipes the tears from his eyes. The rest of them don't find it as amusing.

“You're dead, Barton,” Natasha deadpans, yet makes no effort to move. Her expression tells them all that the payback will come when Clint least expects it. Tony runs stressed hands down his face and drops back onto the couch between Peter and Rhodey.

“Real mature, man,” Rhodey says with an annoyed sigh as he shakes his head.

“That was the greatest,” Clint continues anyways. He didn't necessarily expect the rest of them to find it as funny, but to him that was comedy gold. Peter would agree with him if he weren't distracted by his still barely humming senses. The danger wasn't Clint…so then where is it? He stares blankly at his hands as he thinks.

“I'm only going to give you a pass on this because Sam was about to pass out,” Bucky chooses to overlook. He has a small, triumphant smile when Sam whips around to face him.

“I was not!” Sam defends. As their arguing ramps up again, Tony notices Peter’s sudden quiet demeanor. This is obviously out of character and Tony looks down at him with worried eyes.

“Hey,” he nudges the teen, “Earth to kid. You alright?” At his question, Peter tightens his hands into fists, then loosens them again.

“My Spidey Sense is acting up,” he admits slowly. He doesn't want to definitively say that there's danger nearby since the sensation is so dull. Either way, it’s enough to be disconcerting and even annoying. Tony huffs and runs a tense hand through his hair.

“I swear to all that's holy, if Barton screwed up your senses-” he starts, but Peter is quick to intercede before his mentor gets too mad.

“No! No, it’s fine, really. The lights just probably wigged them out,” Peter reasons, holding his hands up like it provides some kind of evidence. Tony glances up at him with an expression that practically screams doubt. That leaves Peter with his only other way to make Tony not worry: sass. “Y’know what? You're right. It’s probably just all the ghosts in the Tower.” Tony snorts and a slight smile makes its way onto his lips despite his best efforts.

“You're a little shit. I hope you're aware of that,” he shoots back. He playfully pushes Peter’s shoulder, causing the kid to laugh and loosen up a bit, which he considers a win.

“I'm telling you, the whole Tower is haunted. You're just in denial, Mr. Stark.” Tony rolls his eyes and ruffles up Peter’s hair just to get a rise out of him. After getting Sam to calm down and Clint to regain his composure, they get comfortable all over again to finish off the rest of their movie night. For the entire remaining time, Peter does his best to ignore the lingering sensation on the back of his neck.

**PRIVATE QUARTERS, 30TH FLOOR: 1:46 AM**

Everyone goes to their respective rooms around midnight when Tony asserts his authority by making Peter go to bed. With an indignant huff and a goodnight, Peter makes his way to his room, and not long after, the rest of the heroes go their separate ways to sleep. Despite being the first to bed, Peter is the last one to fall asleep…and the first to wake up.

He jolts awake, his breathing heavy and face drenched in a sheen of sweat. As he tries to calm himself down, he also notices that the vague prickling sensation is back with a vengeance. His Spidey Sense has spread across his shoulders, causing goosebumps from head to toe and clattering teeth.

_ What’s going on? Something's wrong. I, I gotta go tell Mr. Stark something’s wrong, _he's able to reason even with his half-asleep brain. Swiftly, he swings his feet over and as soon as he stands, alarms start to blare. He’s more than aware all at once when the ear piercing sound assaults his hearing. It takes him a moment to recover enough to clamp his hands over his ears, but then runs out of his room to find the others.

“Man, what the hell?!” Sam is the first to come out with his shoulders sagging tiredly. Part of him thinks it’s some sort of joke, but it’s an ungodly hour to be pulling pranks, even for Clint. Steve is the next to emerge and is much more alert as he rushes out, shield already in hand.

“You two alright?” he checks in, looking between Sam and Peter.

“No!” Sam denies, but Peter nods his head while still covering his ears to block the shrill alarm. Tony and Bucky also come out of there rooms, the former with his Iron Man gauntlet expanded from his watch and the latter with his metal fist clenched. Rhodey isn't far behind, ready to call his own suit at a moment’s notice.

“What's going on?!” Tony questions. He’s quick to move beside Peter, briefly glancing him up and down to make sure he's okay. Obviously, Peter isn't physically hurt but Tony can't possibly imagine what the alarm must sound like with enhanced hearing.

“In case you hadn't noticed, your tower is screaming at us!” Sam shouts over the blaring. In order to rein in his temper, Tony looks up and takes a deep breath while clenching his jaw.

“Yeah, no shit,” he responds anyways. By this time, Natasha, Bruce, and Clint have meandered out of there rooms, Natasha looking particularly murderous.

“Care to explain the early wake up call, Stark?” She raises an eyebrow in question.

“Yeah, this sucks,” Clint cuts in with a groan and rubs the back of his head. “I already don't get enough naps as it is!” The shouting grinds on Tony’s nerves and, coupled with seeing Peter about ready to keel over, he shouts at the ceiling instead.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y.! Cut the alarm!” No answer. That’s odd.

“Is she not responding?!” Bruce shouts over the cacophony of noise, the sounds stabbing at his ears as well. The last thing they all need is for him to get aggravated and Hulk out.

“Damnit,” Tony mutters. “F.R.I.D.A.Y.! System reboot! Now!” he yells again, this time the halls going silent at his order. Peter is finally able to remove his hands and take relieving breaths, though the uneasiness hasn't let up. “You good, kid?” Tony asks as he pats the teen’s back.

“Never better,” Peter sarcastically responds, causing Tony to snort humorously. If Peter can still be sarcastic, then he's fine.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y.,” Rhodey decides to keep them on task, “you up?” The lights don't turn on, but F.R.I.D.A.Y. responds nonetheless.

“Systems have been rebooted and are back online,” she informs. This makes everyone more than a little confused considering their predicament.

“Then where are the lights?” Bucky cautiously voices the team’s collective thought. When things are normal, he's on edge. Now that there's actually something wrong, he's even more paranoid.

“There seems to be something wrong with the power converter. The lower thirty floors are without electricity, including this level.” The new information F.R.I.D.A.Y. provides isn't what they would call comforting, per se. Tony’s eyes narrow in thought.

“Great,” Sam says bitterly. “This better not be you again, Clint.” At the mention of his name, Clint blinks at Sam and almost looks offended.

“Do I look awake enough to be pulling this off?” He makes a good point. There's nothing he values more than his sleep.

“Any other good news?” Sam continues anyways and directs his question at the ceiling. As he crosses his arms, Peter rubs the back of his neck to get his senses to calm down. Meanwhile, Clint leans sleepily against a wall and Natasha elbows his side to keep him awake.

“My security cameras are offline as well,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. regrettably adds. That leaves them in almost complete darkness with no way of knowing who or what else is in the Tower with them. “However, I can put the emergency lights into effect.” Just like that, a red glow takes over the room to add to the already eerie atmosphere.

“That…helps,” Peter tries to encourage, but it comes out shaky. Tony presses his lips together, then speaks.

“Did you get any footage before the blackout? Was it a malfunction or did someone shut it off?” he demands, his patience nonexistent. His implication sobers the group if they weren't already. If someone managed to get in the Tower without F.R.I.D.A.Y. alerting them instantaneously, then they might actually have someone who knows what they're doing. They know how to get past the security system, which is already borderline impossible, but they probably also have a deathwish breaking into a tower of superheroes.

“Yes, Boss,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. confirms before Tony’s phone buzzes. He looks at it to see he has received a short surveillance video. The team is quick to gather around the screen as Tony holds it up for all of them to see, Peter ducking underneath Tony’s chin in order to get a good enough look.

The video appears fairly normal. There's a light blue glow from the offscreen arc reactor powering the building, but in the center of the screen is a fuse box with its metal cover slightly ajar. Nothing out of the ordinary, that is until the cover starts to slowly creek open. By itself.

“That's not how physics works…” Bruce quietly points out, earning a slow shake of the head from Peter. The kid looks like a deer caught in headlights as he continues to watch.

“It could be a draft,” Steve attempts to be the voice of reason. Despite his effort to dismiss it, he gets chills of his own. He can deal with a lot of things: zombie Nazis, being frozen alive, adjusting to the 21st century, but this isn't an idea he wants to entertain. Still, Rhodey unfortunately shakes his head.

“The arc reactor is two stories underground,” he counters. “No drafts down there.” None of them take their eyes off the screen as they converse. The cover comes to a gentle stop and they all wait with baited breath to see if anything happens. If the power went out, it had to be tampered with. They wait for the culprit to come on screen, only for the cover to slam the rest of the way open with a metallic clang. Everyone in the group jumps, save for Natasha and Clint.

“Ha, jokes on you guys. I turned my hearing aids down,” Clint reveals with a triumphant smirk. “That was super weird, though.” With that, he turns his hearing aids back up and ignores Natasha’s annoyed side glare. The team continues to watch, their eyes glued to the screen. Everything is still for a few moments, then sparks fly spontaneously from the fuse box and the once pristine fuses are scorched. Tony’s stomach drops. He can't explain what he just saw and he swallows thickly.

“I might've missed a lot, but…” Bucky starts, unable to look away from the bright screen illuminating their faces. The contrasting red glow from the emergency lighting beats on their backs.

“That shit’s not normal,” Sam finishes. For once, he agrees with Bucky and he doesn't even want to know what's going on. Hearing Sam’s choice of words, Steve sighs.

“Does anyone ever listen to me?” he whispers to himself. Tony ignores their discussion and shakes his head stubbornly.

“No. No, there's a reasonable explanation for this. Right, Bruce?” He looks to his friend for backup, raising his eyebrows expectantly. As if on cue, everyone looks at Bruce, who looks between them.

“Uh, yeah,” Bruce wrings his hands nervously, “I'm sure fuses blow all the time.”

“How sure?” Natasha interrogates. She doesn't let her fear get in the way of figuring things out, though she does feel the tension. That and she doesn't entirely appreciate the lack of electricity or sleep.

“I don't know, nothing is ever perfect. Malfunctions happen and…mechanical engineering isn't my specialty,” Bruce anxiously admits with a slight smile. _ That's fine, _ Tony thinks, _ I can figure this out. Fix the problem. _

“Can't you do something with all those fancy PHDs?” Clint questions genuinely, his head tilting to the side. At the same time, Peter gently taps Tony’s arm.

“Unless it involves anti-electron collisions, biochemistry, or gamma radiation, I can't explain why Newton's law of universal gravitation would suddenly cease to exist,” Bruce answers with a slight edge to his voice.

“Mr. Stark?” a quiet voice calls. Tony looks to Peter, taking in the kid's pale face before acknowledging him.

“Yeah?” he murmurs while trying to pay attention to the other conversation in the background as well.

“My Spidey Sense is going off again,” Peter reveals hesitantly. The tingling isn't bad as when he first woke up, but that feeling of dread is something he just can't shake. It's making him distracted. Tony's brow furrows in concern.

“Has it done this before?” He feels like this is a more productive question than asking over and over if the kid is okay. Unfortunately, Peter shakes his head.

“Not like this. It feels…funky,” he attempts to relay. It's difficult to portray something that he doesn't entirely understand. Especially when he hasn't felt it before.

“Funky how?” Tony asks him to clarify. With a shrug, Peter does his best to answer.

“I dunno. It doesn't feel super threatening but it's setting off my senses. It's like they don't know whether to feel in danger or not.” That's not exactly what Tony was hoping to hear, but it's a starting point.

“Can you pinpoint it?” Peter’s face scrunches up as he considers the question. None of what's going on is sitting right with Tony, and if Peter can sense that too then maybe they have a lead. Not that it isn't anything aside from some faulty wiring and a blown fuse. That would be crazy.

“I ain't messing with this haunted ass bullshit,” Sam unceremoniously interrupts Tony's train of thought. Both Peter and Tony turn back to the other conversation and listen as the rest of the team tries to work the situation out.

“There's no such things as ghosts,” Rhodey disagrees monotonously. His arms are crossed and he appears to be just as exasperated as Natasha is. However, Bucky shrugs his shoulders.

“And I didn't think there could be such things as secret high tech countries under invisible force fields but,” he raises his eyebrows, knowing he doesn't have to further prove his point. Tony’s eyes narrow at the soldier and Bruce instantly rubs his forehead to prepare himself for what he knows is coming.

“You just had to mention Wakanda, huh Barnes?” Tony challenges as he steps closer into the group. Peter is a step behind him to reintegrate himself into what the plan might be. Turns out, they don't exactly have a plan yet, despite Steve’s effort. It’s hard to pull a group of superheroes together when they're half asleep and high strung about possible…paranormal activity. Thankfully, Tony makes a subtle motion with his hand and his nanotech suit starts to form around him. This seems to jumpstart everyone into getting their gear.

“You had to bring it up,” Bruces says under his breath. He has heard this song and dance more than a few times. Those who need their equipment move around him, Natasha getting her guns and weapons securely fastened, Rhodey jogging out to get his suit, Clint situating his quiver over his shoulder and Sam leaving to get his Falcon drone Redwing. Bucky knows exactly what he's doing but acts casual anyways.

“It’s not my fault a sixteen year old is smarter than you.” Of course, any blow to Tony’s ego is an immediate call to war. His eyes widen as if challenging Bucky to say anything further.

“You're asking me to compete with a princess. She obviously has the advantage,” he points out matter-of-factly. He's not about to denounce Shuri’s intelligence, because he knows she’s smarter, but dammit he won't let his ego take a hit without a fight.

“Is this really necessary right now?” Steve questions, rapidly losing his patience.

“And people say I’m immature,” Clint mumbles to Natasha as he picks up his bow. Natasha doesn't blink before quipping back,

“You are.” She smirks at her jab, especially when Clint scoffs. Steve cuts in, before anyone else can, to calm the energy back down.

“We treat this like any other infiltration.” He uses logic to get them back on track. They need to consider this an attack on the Tower, regardless of what the footage may or may not show. Rhodey and Sam rejoin the group, fully suited up. “That means we get into our training groups and-”

“Alright gang! Let’s split up and search for clues!” Peter excitedly interrupts, now wearing his Spider-Man suit with his hands placed proudly on his hips. Tony lightly snorts at the reference and Clint openly laughs, but Steve and Bucky are at a loss for words. “I've always wanted to say that.” Peter smiles brightly and bounces on his toes. Steve clears his throat, then picks up where he left off.

“Same groups for drills. Tony, Rhodey, and Bruce will-” Once again, he's interrupted.

“Nope. My tower, my rules. That means the kid stays with me,” Tony intervenes and leaves no room for argument. “And Underoos said he can pinpoint the problem, so that settles that.” Peter's head snaps up while Steve breathes deeply.

“Tony, this is how we practiced it.” Steve doesn't want to argue and frankly it's wasting even more of their time.

“And I didn't agree with it then, so why would I agree with it now?” Tony deadpans blatantly. Then, Clint raises his hand just enough to be seen.

“Well, Pete and I are a package deal, so…” he feels the need to point out.

“That's true,” Peter quickly agrees. Clint extends his arm for a fistbump, which Peter happily accepts.

“Can we move this along?” Sam finally cuts in, despite wanting to do so ages ago. “At this rate the ghosts are gonna kill us or you're going to put me back to sleep.” Steve tightens his shield around his forearm and gets to work.

“Tony, Peter, and Clint, you three start making your way down to the reactor. No one knows it better than you, Tony, and Peter can sense danger. Clint has both of your backs. Take the quickest way down. Sam, Bucky, and I will start flanking and combing the levels as we go down to make sure no one gets up here. Nat, Bruce, and Rhodey, I think it’s best if we keep a team up here in case anyone slips past or something goes wrong. You're our last line of defense and you can moderate the comms. Everyone got it?” As he finishes, general nods of affirmation come from the group. It's as good a confirmation as any and the team splits up to find what exactly is happening in the Tower.

**SOUTH-WEST STAIRWELL, 22ND FLOOR, TEAM TONY: 2:13 AM**

“This week on Avenger’s Unsolved, we investigate the famous Avenger’s Tower in Manhattan, New York as part of our ongoing investigation into the question: ‘is everything Clint Barton’s fault?’” Peter sets the scene, cautiously tiptoeing with Droney hovering in the air beside him. The red glow from the emergency lights creates an eerie glow, but Droney’s light helps to counteract it. With a sigh, Tony walks normally behind him and Clint does the same with his hands behind his head.

“You can't pin this one on me,” Clint plays along with Peter’s bit. However, Tony momentarily closes his eyes and asks the universe to give him the strength to get through this. They reach the next flight of stairs and Peter is the first to start walking down, ignoring Clint to continue his own rendition of Buzzfeed Unsolved.

“This facility, the first clean energy-powered skyscraper in Manhattan thanks to the unparalleled arc reactor, was created in 2012 by none other than Tony Stark himself. It houses the superhero bunch of misfits: The Avengers.” Peter uses his best Ryan impersonation to sound as official and dramatic as possible. Tony raises an eyebrow, not sure whether to feel complimented or insulted.

“Is this going to be a habit?” he questions, unamused. “And why do you have all this memorized?” Before Peter can answer, Tony makes his way to the front of the group, passing the sneaking teenager. Tony wants to be in front in case anything happens, plus he's the one in a suit of armor so it makes logical sense. His metallic footsteps echo in the stairwell as the three of them descend.

“Because he's a fanboy,” Clint chimes in. “I thought we already established that.” He yawns and hopes that the thirty floor trek downwards won't bore him back to sleep. Peter stops and looks back at Clint, Droney doing the same.

“Don't you have your own merch in your room?” Peter recalls with a mischievious smile. Clint narrows his eyes, knowing Peter is right.

“Shouldn't you be wearing your mask?” he shoots back instead of confirming. Peter beams triumphantly, but does pull his mask on, just in case. They don't know if they've been infiltrated, which unfortunately means breathing through spandex to protect his identity.

“Someone’s grumpy.”

“Someone’s grumpy because _ someone else,” _Clint pointedly glances to Tony, “wouldn't let him use his resources to his advantage.” Tony rolls his eyes at the comment.

“Crawl in the vents on your own time. Feeling anything, Pete?” he cuts in, hoping to derail their banter in favor of getting to the bottom of the disconcerting situation. Peter perks up and focuses on his senses, walking casually this time.

“Um,” his mechanical lenses narrow with a whir, “I don't think so?” He doesn't feel like they're in any danger, it’s like that feeling when Flash is about to make fun of him or when Sam is going to pull a prank or something. It isn't life threatening. Unaware of Peter’s slight apprehension, Tony barrels on.

“Well, it’s time to kick those spider powers into gear. The faster we get this done, the faster I get back to being an insom-” _ Danger, _Peter’s senses alert him. Tony is pushed from behind and loses his footing. There's just enough time in between for Peter to shoot his hand out with lightning fast reflexes and grip the metal collar of Tony’s suit. Tony doesn't move for a moment, shocked at being held at an angle over the stairs mere seconds away from tumbling down. Clint has his bow drawn, ready to let his arrow loose at the drop of a hat. Slowly, Peter pulls Tony back upright, Iron Man suit and all. Sometimes Tony forgets how strong Peter is, especially to be able to easily hoist him up with one hand.

“You okay, Mr. Stark?” Peter asks as he makes sure Tony doesn't trip again.

“Yeah,” Tony answers indignantly. “There's certain lines we don't cross. One of those lines is trying to push me down the stairs. Are you _ trying _ to give me a heart attack?” he demands, turning to give Peter one of _ those _ scolding looks. Peter almost gets offended, then glances back to Clint with confusion, who shrugs his shoulders.

“But I didn't push you,” Peter reluctantly counters. Tony’s eyes dart between the two, feeling unsettled for the first time that night. Before he can respond, the emergency lights go out.

Black.

Pitch black.

Without the red glow in the stairwell, Droney’s light and Tony’s arc reactor are the only sources of illumination. Clint’s shoulders are tense again as he raises his bow, scanning their surroundings with the limited sight he has. Immediately lifting his repulsors, Tony does his best to create more light and prepare for the worst. His repulsors charge with a high pitched hum. The only one who would be able to fight in the dark would be Peter with his Spidey Sense, but even that hasn't been working all night.

“Yeah, well, maybe save the jokes for after the impromptu mission,” Tony sternly reprimands. This is something that he needs Peter to take seriously, not goof around with.

“But Mr. Stark! I'm not joking!” Peter defensively argues as he extends his arms in the web-shooting position. The three of them instinctively stand back-to-backto-back like they have practiced many times before. This way they can see in all directions and, hopefully, see their adversary should they try anything again. Clint scoffs, but doesn't pull his eyes away from his task.

“Nice parenting,” he mutters sarcastically while concentrating. Peter’s lenses widen minutely.

“I'm not _ parenting _ I'm _ mentoring,” _ Tony doesn't hesitate to counter.

“Whatever you want to call it, I’d try a new tactic,” Clint continues nonetheless. Their conversation comes to a halt as they listen intently to the space around them. It’s so quiet, they could hear a pin drop.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y.?” Tony cues his AI, hoping that she’ll have an explanation. The air is dense with tension, so much so that Peter can't help but swallow thickly and sweat beads up on Clint’s forehead.

“Yes, Boss?” F.R.I.D.A.Y. calmly answers, but it only makes them worry more. If she doesn't automatically have an answer to the implied question, then she isn't catching onto the problem.

“Scan for heat signatures,” Tony orders in a hushed tone. The Iron Man faceplate slides down and an infrared screen flickers to life. He carefully looks around, scanning the room as Peter and Clint keep him covered. As he looks around the narrow stairwell, he doesn't see any heat signatures besides Peter and Clint’s. If anything, the area slightly colder than normal, most likely due to the lack of heating without the power on.

“No foreign infrared wavelengths detected,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. confirms. Peter looks over his shoulder to glance at Tony anxiously, then faces forward again. “However, unexplained cold spots were detected.” Clint’s eyes shift to Peter at the information. He anticipates the reaction before it comes. Of course, Peter’s lenses go wide until the black outline almost can't be seen.

“Cold spots?! As in _ ghosts?!” _he borderline shrieks. Tony’s faceplate flips back up to reveal his unamused expression and all around disinterest in Peter’s antics.

“As in ‘an area of localized coldness or a sudden decrease in ambient temperature’ according to Wikipedia,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. quotes, causing Tony to make a disgusted face. His AI? Using _ Wikipedia? _ Clint chuckles despite the gravity of their situation.

“If school taught me one thing, it’s that Wikipedia isn't a credible source,” he says with a light scoff. “That's a big ‘if.’” Tony grumbles under his breath, then sighs. They don't have time to waste on this. Instead, he steers their thoughts back on the subject at hand.

“They could have some kind of tech that obscures their heat signature and makes them invisible,” he proposes, much quieter than before. If there are intruders listening, they have to keep it down. “We’ve seen it before. Keep close and-”

_ “Or _ it’s ghosts,” Peter interjects, surprisingly serious about his contribution. Tony, on the other hand, is ready to scream. “F.R.I.D.A.Y., can you scan radio frequencies to” He’s cut off by an cold shock running down his shoulders. The sensation feels like ice water has been poured down his back.

“Kid, you okay?” Tony hesitantly asks when Peter goes still. His voice seems to snap Peter out of whatever happened and the teen rubs his shoulder.

“Yeah. Yeah, uh, about, about the radio frequencies? Can you scan them at a rate of fifteen hundredths of a second? Roughly?” he proposes. If he can somehow recreate the spirit box from _ Buzzfeed Unsolved, _ maybe he can figure out if what's happening is actually paranormal.

“Sure thing, Peter,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. affirms without a fuss. However, Clint doesn't seem to follow.

“Why are we listening to the radio when we’re busy playing Where’s Waldo with an invisible burglar.” The tip of his arrow lights up, creating an extra bit of brightness in their dark confinements. He's used to the tight, limiting space, but he knows Peter has an issue with claustrophobia, so he keeps a partial eye on the kid as well.

“People say it makes it easier for ghosts to communicate. Like, they use the channels to form words and stuff. Otherwise it's just static,” Peter explains as if it's a simple concept. Clint doesn't seem too phased, but Tony looks between them like they should be in a mental institution.

“Am I in the Twilight Zone?” Tony questions. “I _ feel _like I'm in the Twilight Zone. That's the most pseudoscience piece of shit I've ever heard.” He roughly rubs his forehead, his stress more than abundant, but Peter doesn't give in.

“That's exactly what Shane says! At least we know you're a Shanicac. That explains a lot,” Peter points out casually before clearing his throat. As the two debate, Clint remains at the ready. The pressure is getting to all of them. They need to act faster. “But that's not the point, the point is that what if it’s a ghost and we’re ignoring it? Or, or a _ demon, _ Mr. Stark!” He has a bad feeling.

The emergency lights flicker in the darkness, red splashes of light coloring the landing. The crimson color reflects in Tony’s eyes as he tries to shoot Peter a look to drop the subject. Regardless of his glance, a harsh whitenoise envelopes the space, immediately causing Peter to cover his ears. He knows Shane complains about the spirit box, but he didn't expect it to be _ this _loud. Every fifteen hundredths of a second, F.R.I.D.A.Y. scans to a new channel, producing the noises grating against the team’s ears.

“Nope!” Clint yells, lifting a hand to reach for his hearing aids. “Nope, nope, nope.” He turns down each of his hearing aids, then gets his bow back into position. “Ah, sweet, sweet relief.” Tony rolls his eyes at Clint’s dramatics and instead chooses to do something more productive.

“Bruce!” he calls through the comms.

“Guess again,” Natasha answers impassively.

“Nat, we’ve got some weird stuff going on down here,” Tony quickly relays while letting his faceplate fall again. He keeps the scanner up to see anything his bare eyes can't. As he does so, Peter screams his questions to communicate with “ghosts” as he tightens his clamped hands over his ears.

“Mr. or Mrs. Ghost! It’s me! Ya boi!” Peter yells, and Tony legitimately considers facepalming with his gauntlet in hopes that it’ll knock himself out. “You can use the really loud static to talk! It should help!”

“Yeah, I can tell,” Natasha comments, hearing not only the whitenoise but also Peter’s yelling. “You guys aren't the only ones.” Her deadpan tone would make an outsider think the situation weren't intense, but Tony knows her better than that. She stays this calm in most all situations. You can never gauge her.

“What? Cap and his boy band having troubles?” Tony replies sarcastically. “They can wait in line. Peter, for the love of- _ Peter, _ take this _ seriously!” _Peter seems to be focusing more on communicating with the dead than on his web-shooters.

“I am! Have you ever asked if ghosts are here?! I'm just covering all our bases!” he continues to retaliate as Natasha relays the whole fiasco to Tony. If he were to be honest, he’s taking the unplanned ghost hunting to heart.

“Bruce is going through the Tower’s footage to see if he can find anything else, Rhodey’s making sure F.R.I.D.A.Y. wasn't hacked, and yours truly is keeping an eye on your asses.” The static continues, switching from channel to channel. “Steve checked in a few minutes ago saying his group got locked in a room,” she states, letting out a frustrated sigh.

“Oh yeah, we’re dealing with a damn poltergeist and they're trapped in a room? Poor guys,” Tony sasses without remorse.

“Can you tell us what you want?!” Peter interrogates, almost in spite of Tony’s disbelief. The constant static starts to get louder, only serving to annoy Tony further.

_ “Ch ch ch ch ch.” _ The stations flip from one to the next impossibly fast. _ “Ch ch ch ch _ ** _no._ ** _ ” _Peter tenses at the clear-as-day response and Clint’s grip on his bow loosens ever so slightly at the kid’s reaction. He makes eye contact with Peter, whose lenses are blown large.

“Did you hear that?” Peter lifts his mask up to his nose to ask the question. Like this, it's easy for Clint to read his lips and he shakes his head, but Tony is quick to shoot down their thoughts.

“Don't. No, it's a ridiculous way to determine whether or not things that don't exist are here. People hear what they want to hear. Romanoff,” Tony turns his attention back to the other conversation, “how did Rogers manage to get his team locked in a room?” However, Peter isn't swayed.

“Why not?!” he calls back to the disembodied voice anyways.

“He said the door slammed shut behind them,” Natasha relays. Peter shivers at her words, thoroughly creeped out, and Tony rubs his forehead.

“Alright, fine. Tell them-”

_ “_**_G-Get out_ ** _ ch ch ch.” _The air goes still. Peter whips around to face Tony, who already has his eyes scanning the ceiling for an explanation.

“What?” Clint questions, quickly turning his hearing aids back on. “Wait, what’d it say?! I wasn't listening!” he shouts. Chills spread across Peter’s skin and that same, unexplained feeling pulls at his Spidey Sense. Maybe…maybe it has to do with the ghost? _ Am I turning into, like, a ghost whisperer or something? _His teeth chatter against each other as he takes in a breath.

_ “Ch ch _ ** _run _ ** _ ch ch ch _ ** _ a _ ** _ ch _ ** _way_**_.” _Hearing the commotion, Natasha checks what she can on her end, which unfortunately isn't much.

“What's going on Tony?” she demands. “Do you need me to send Rhodey down?” Rhodey lifts his head from his task at her suggestion.

“No, just, give me a second,” Tony answers as he attempts to gather his thoughts. He glances down to see Peter rubbing his arms and clasps a hand on his shoulder.

“Talk to me, Peter,” he urges, noticing something’s up.

“It's, it's _ cold_. You're not cold?” Peter asks and, once again, wishes he could shiver like normal people to keep himself warm.

** _“-ny Stark _ ** _ ch ch ch,” _the makeshift spirit box interjects, causing all three of their heads to snap upwards. Peter hasn't ever felt so much dread settle in his stomach.

“What the hell…” Tony mumbles, thoroughly confused. _ Im telling you, the whole Tower is haunted. You're just in denial, Mr. Stark, _Peter's words echo in his head, sending shivers down his spine. Then he remembers they're just radio waves. Of course his name would be on the radio. He's Tony Stark afterall.

That's when the emergency lights go completely out for the second time, sending them into almost complete darkness. In that same moment, the chills Peter once felt are gone and the only remaining sensation is Tony’s heavy, metal coated hand on his shoulder.

“We've _ got _ to figure out what's wrong with your Tower,” is all Clint says in the darkness before the emergency lights come back on to cast their not-so-comforting red glow. Just like that, everything seems normal again and the white noise is simply white noise. No voices. F.R.I.D.A.Y. does them the honor of shutting off the makeshift spirit box.

“Stark? Stark, you there?” Natasha’s voice comes through as she tries to reach the stunned group. Peter lowers his arms and looks around cautiously whereas Clint still has his bow nocked.

“Yeah. Everything's quiet now,” Tony relays with a steady voice. “Help out Cap and his band of misfits, we’ll keep moving.” Simply the thought of having to continue after that altercation is concerning enough, yet Peter is curious enough to not argue.

“Stay safe and keep an eye out. I'll keep you posted,” Natasha all but orders before leaving them to it. Finally, Clint puts the arrow back in his quiver and rolls out his tense shoulders.

“That was a bit spooky,” he announces nonchalantly. “Could anyone else go for a pumpkin spice latte or just me?” His casual attitude is merely to distract them from what none of them can explain.

“That was insane! It said your _ name, _Mr. Stark!” Peter exclaims, ripping off his mask to look at Tony with shocked eyes.

“So did you. Does that make you a ghost too?” Tony easily counters as he crosses his arms. Still, Peter doesn't relent.

“Do you know the odds of hearing anything coherent when the radio stations are being switched every fifteen hundredths of a second?!” he practically squeals as his general nerdiness begins to show.

“I mean,” Clint cuts back in, “better safe than sorry. If it is a ghost, shouldn't you get the Tower blessed or cleansed or whatever?” The suggestions he throws out don't seem to please Tony all that much. Then again, Tony is a hard man to please.

“Oh yeah, sure. Let me just call the pope and have him start swinging around his holy water branch,” he sarcastically quips back, rolling his eyes for what feels like the hundredth time in fifteen minutes.

“What if we just call Dr. Strange instead?” Peter proposes, much to Tony’s dismay. “Does he count? Can't he just do some magic stuff and get the ghosts to go away?” Without further prompting, Tony fervently starts shaking his head.

“No, we do _ not _ need the wizard's help. Dr. Mystic Arts can stay in his fairytale tower where magic _ supposedly _ exists. In _ my _ Tower, everything has a logical explanation. What people call 'magic' is just technology we don't understand yet. I can figure this out without his help. And it’s _ not _ghosts.” With that passionately frustrated explanation, he charges ahead. Peter and Clint give each other a hesitant look, but choose to follow Tony nonetheless. As long as they can reach the arc reactor sublevel, everything should be fine. Relatively.

**HEADQUARTERS, 25TH FLOOR, TEAM STEVE: 2:36 AM**

Sam and Bucky stand side by side with equally sour expressions and their arms crossed. They’re both bitter about being stuck in the room, but even more bitter considering they're stuck in the room _ together. _ The lack of sleep combined with the stress of the unknown threat is grating on their nerves. Sooner or later, one of them is going to snap.

“Care to tell me how you managed to get yourselves locked in an interrogation room?” Natasha inquires, a smirk playing at her lips.

“I don't know,” Steve answers the question with a sigh. “We were sweeping the floors and Sam-”

“Decided to hallucinate,” Bucky bluntly finishes for him. Sam shoots him a side glare without so much as moving his head.

“Oh sure, blame it on me. When the demon wants a sacrifice, I'm sacrificing your goat-loving ass first,” he threatens openly. Steve pinches the bridge of his nose, feeling more like a babysitter than a team member. Unfortunately, once he and Bucky heard Sam yell for them, they came rushing in. Next thing they knew, the door behind them slammed shut.

“And why were you searching an interrogation room?” Natasha continues to fish for information. It's not like she needs the information per se, it's more to satisfy her curiosity. Plus she wants to laugh at them. Maybe blackmail them. If only she could ask F.R.I.D.A.Y. to record this.

“Can we catch you up later?” Steve borderline pleads in a hushed tone. He isn't stupid, he knows Natasha well enough to notice her sly demeanor.

“‘Cause I saw someone come in here,” Sam defends, only to be shot down by Bucky.

“Obviously not,” he mutters.

“I saw what I saw.” Sam huffs in frustration and keeps his annoyed gaze straight ahead. “And I _ saw _a person in here. I'm not seeing them now so all I'm saying is that there's ghosts. And I'm not pissing off any ghosts,” he reasons out stubbornly.

“There aren't any ghosts. If there were, they wouldn't want to hear your complaining,” Bucky shoots back, obviously out of patience

“And you can't get out because…?” Natasha prompts monotonously. She would much prefer to be out helping, but they have their teams and she’s making sure everything runs smoothly.

“The interrogation rooms are reinforced,” Steve informs regretfully. “They were made specifically with super soldiers and superhuman powers in mind.” He grips his shield closer, feeling somewhat exposed without his suit but he's been through worse.

“And? You're telling me you're just sitting there instead of trying to get out?” Natasha all but demands, raising a curious eyebrow to herself. It doesn't seem like them to give in so easily.

“Not exactly…” Steve trails off as the three of them look to the locked door with dents and scrapes scattering it.

“So much for that strongest-metal-on-earth arm of yours,” Sam points out.

“So much for your useless drone,” Bucky doesn't hesitate to return.

“Insult me all you want, but leave Redwing out of this,” Sam warns as he shoots a look of daggers.

“There's only so much we can do up here,” Natasha explains, “we’re spread thin. I'm keeping up with Tony and his gang too, but they're having problems too.” Steve's eyebrows come together in confusion. _ They should be taking the fastest and safest way down. They're stairs, how could there be any issues? _

“What kind of problem?” Bucky vocalizes Steve's concerns.

“Short circuit in the emergency lights. Possibly a run-in with the infiltrator,” Natasha supplies. In between talking with Team Steve, she's trying to figure out how to help Tony's team. She's used to multitasking, so it could be worse. Luckily, a few moments later, the emergency lights in the stairwell go back to normal. Now all she has to do is help get Steve’s team out of the room.

“Poor things,” Sam says indifferently, his expression unchanging. “They get some flickering lights while we're stuck with no way out.” Natasha smiles at his words and hums in thought.

“Funny, they said the same thing about you getting yourselves locked in a room. Guess it's all about perspective,” she relays smugly. Sam’s pout only intensifies and Bucky rolls his eyes. Steve, however, continues to pace. He hates not being able to find a solution.

“Can you patch us through to Tony?” he inquires, but Natasha scoffs.

“I don't know if you want to talk to him with the mood he's in,” she points out. “But sure. Have at it.” Regardless, she opens the comms so that they can all hear each other.

“Tony, it’s Steve.” The first thing he hears is Peter.

“It's not _ my _fault the ghost tried to push you down the stairs,” the kid reasons. “That was before I tried talking to it.” Well, this certainly wasn't the conversation Steve expected to be jumping into.

“See,” Sam mumbles, “told you it was ghosts.”

“Since when do you agree with or even listen to Peter?” Bucky chooses to point out instead, making a good point.

“Oh, hello dear,” Tony responds to Steve sarcastically. “Heard you guys got your knickers in a bit of a twist. Did you manage to dig your way out with spoons yet or are you using Bucky’s arm?” Steve actually chuckles at the mental image before sobering.

“We got locked in one of the interrogation rooms. Do you think you can get us out? Any weak spots or commands or…” His words hang in the air. He isn't the best with technology, so he isn't sure if there's any way around it when the power is off. Tony snorts on the other end.

“You can't be serious.” The distant sound of Peter and Clint conversing can be heard along with the Iron Man suit’s metallic footsteps.

“If we weren't serious we wouldn't still be in here,” Bucky grumpily points out. He just wants to sleep. They all do, if they’re being honest. The sound of Tony’s footsteps get farther apart as he slows down.

“Wait, you're actually being serious?” he asks, considerably more sincere. “Have you tried _ the door?” _For some reason, he feels the need to point that out.

“No, we tried punching through the ceiling,” Sam fires back the sarcasm from before.

“Yeah, Tony, we tried the door,” Steve answers instead, his exasperation seeping into his voice.

“You shouldn't be trapped in any of the interrogation rooms. They're _ electronic _locks. Y'know, locks that only work when there's power, which we obviously don't have.” Tony is obviously patronizing them, that much is apparent, but they don't have time to dwell on it. Sam’s eyes widen in realization and Steve looks over to him and Bucky.

“Then why can't we open the door?” Steve questions warily. In that moment, there's a metallic clank. The three turn to face the door as it slowly opens, inch by inch, with an uncanny creak that echoes in the silence. They stare in disbelief until it comes to an eerie stop, leaving the way out into the darkness wide open.

“Oh hell no,” Sam refuses after a few beats of stunned silence.

“Please don't tell me what I think just happened _ actually _happened,” Peter nervously rambles through the comms. Bucky almost doesn't believe his eyes, then remembers he has seen things far crazier than this. This is a walk in the park in comparison…

“Someone’s messing with us,” Steve says in a low voice. He cautiously raises his shield, preparing for the possibility of an oncoming attack. Redwing disengages from the compartment in Sam’s pack and hovers beside him. Its machine guns unfold when Sam presses a few buttons on his left brace. Bucky gets to his feet and stalks forward, his vibranium arm catching the red lights.

“What?” Tony questions tightly.

“The door-” Bucky is cut off by the horrific sound of metal scraping across metal. He whips around in the nick of time to stop the metallic chair from crashing into him. A high pitched ring resonates throughout the room as the iron grip from his vibranium arm collides with the chair. It doesn't stop there. Next thing they know, the massive table in the center of the room is flipped into the air. Steve is quick to use his shield and although the impact jars him, the table is successfully deflected.

Something is _ definitely _wrong.

The sudden commotion prompts Sam to lower his goggles and use Redwing’s sight to their advantage.

“Steve, what's going on down there?” Natasha chimes in, a hint of her worry bleeding into her usually dispassionate tone. Steve doesn't have time to answer before the door rapidly starts slamming and opening again. The emergency lights flicker and the chair flies out of Bucky’s hand as if it has been ripped out of his grasp. Luckily, Redwing has visual linking, allowing Sam to see in 360 degrees in a multitude of spectrums to his goggles. But…but there isn't anything _ to _ see. The table and chairs are being thrown around like their nothing, but a force isn't acting upon them. They shouldn't be moving at all.

He ignores the bizarreness of it all and has Redwing use its grappling handcuff to latch onto a chair and yank it out of the air before it hits Steve.

“Thanks, Sam,” Steve mumbles while he stays focused. There has to be some kind of explanation for this. He throws his shield which ricochets off the corners to knock the other chair, inches away from slamming into Sam’s side.

“Right back at you, Cap,” Sam says gratefully. As quick as the commotion began, everything comes to a sudden halt. The emergency lights go out before returning to normal and with it, the once airborne chairs clatter to the ground. Bucky looks at the now wrecked room and takes a moment to catch his surprised breath.

“Okay, it’s ghosts. You convinced me,” he admits to Sam.

“What’s happening over there?!” Clint questions, his voice through the comms laced with static. Steve slowly lowers his shield and looks between Sam and Bucky, who look equally confused.

“The backup lights went out,” Steve carefully starts, still eyeing the room for any movement.

“Yeah, that seems to be a common theme,” Tony reluctantly agrees.

“And did you have flying chairs too?” Sam retorts as he raises his goggles. Redwing folds back into its designated compartment.

“Wait,” Peter’s excited voice comes through, “you had_ flying chairs?! _That's so much cooler than what we had!” After his outburst, there's indistinct murmuring amongst him and Tony.

“And a table,” Bucky grumbles with a sigh. “Can't forget about the table.” In the back of his mind, he almost wishes the chair would've just knocked him out so he could at least get some sleep.

“Okay, alright,” Tony thinks aloud. “Don't go into rooms alone. You three stick together, use duct tape or Elmer’s Glue for all I care. Whoever this is they have the upper hand and we need to- _ no, _ Peter, it isn't ghosts. We need to be careful. We’ll head down as fast as we can, we’re on, what, the sixteenth floor? Something like that. There's no telling who’s listening, so keep the comms chatter to a minimum, got it?” Everyone can tell he's stressed, but they can't blame him. At least they're getting somewhere.

“I’ll check on Bruce and Rhodey, see how they're doing. I’ll let you know if they find anything,” Natasha informs in a stoic voice. With that, she cuts herself from the comms.

“Stay safe,” Steve borderline orders Tony’s team as Bucky rolls out his shoulders and Sam looks around with shifty, distrusting eyes.

“Sir, yes sir,” Clint easily complies without missing a beat. There's a hint of humor to his voice as he tries to lift the tension ever so slightly.

“You guys too, okay?” Peter chimes in.

“Don't think your fake sympathy is gonna earn you any points, Pipsqueak,” Sam shoots back with a slight smile. Peter’s chuckles can be heard before he responds with,

“Worried Captain Rogers likes me more than you?” he quips with a playful tone.

“Who’s the one on a first name basis with him?” Sam doesn't hesitate to point out, obviously amused.

“Go easy on the kid,” Bucky interjects with a smirk of his own.

“Alright, alright, clear up the comms,” Tony cuts back in. “We can chat when we aren't dealing with flying furniture. Toodles.” When the line goes silent, Steve takes a deep breath and glances up to his team.

“Let’s keep moving. We have a lot of floors to clear.” Bucky and Sam both nod in affirmation and follow him out of the room. They have plenty of ground to cover and no idea what to expect, but sometimes that's all they get on a mission. They have to work with what they've got. That just usually doesn't entail airborne chairs and possible ghosts.

**PRIVATE QUARTERS, 30TH FLOOR, TEAM NATASHA: 3:04 AM**

After muting her end of the comms, Natasha walks away from her station and calls to the guys.

“How are we doing?” she checks in, all business. Rhodey has all of his attention on working through F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s programming while Bruce is sorting camera footage as fast as he can.

“Everything looks perfect with F.R.I.D.A.Y.,” Rhodey informs while swiping through the code.

“Thank you, Colonel Rhodes,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. chooses to accept it as a compliment instead of a statement. Finally, Rhodey gets to put his MIT knowledge to good use. He spent years dorming with Tony, so he practically knows the coding inside and out. However, the programming being untouched just leads them to another dead end. “She wasn't hacked. They didn't get in that way.” He rubs his forehead, utterly exhausted and frustrated.

“Great. No leads,” Natasha leans against the wall with her arms crossed, “we’re sending them in blind. Whoever’s doing this, they obviously know what they're doing.” She pretty much sums up the realistic aspects of the predicament.

“Look, if they didn't use F.R.I.D.A.Y. to get in, then that just knocks one more thing off the list. It narrows our search,” Rhodey points out in an attempt to remain positive. Despite his mild confidence, he’s at a loss as well.

“What about you Bruce?” Natasha then turns her attention to the doctor hidden behind a multitude of holographic screens.

“Nothing so far,” Bruce distractedly answers. He keeps glancing between an array of electric blue screens that display various clips of surveillance. There’s nothing, at least nothing that he can see. Everything is normal up until the point where the arc reactor power converter is damaged, but they already knew that. He hasn't seen a single person enter or leave the facility since the work day ended. Unless… “What if it was done during the day? As in, set up during work hours,” he elaborates before he can be asked to. Natasha raises a curious eyebrow.

“So it could be someone working for Tony’s company,” she continues his train of thought.

“Yeah, that narrows it down,” Rhodey facetiously agrees. “But that would give them a leg up. You have security clearance, avoid suspicion, know the place inside and out. And Tony makes his fair share of enemies. It fits,” he recognizes nonetheless.

“Never ends well for guys set on revenge,” Natasha recalls, crossing her arms. “Especially when you screw a fishbowl on your head.” Bruce finally looks away from his sifting to stare at her in confusion.

“Fishbowl?” he reiterates.

“Not as bad as that guy with the snowcone hands,” Rhodey counters as he makes a vague gesture to his forearms. At this point, Bruce is thoroughly lost and they're slightly off topic.

“I don't think we have time for this,” he points out, easily getting them on track. The three contemplate their theory in silence, all considering how the plan would unfold and if it were even hypothetically possible. Luckily, unlike some of the others, they don't attribute every strange happenstance to the paranormal. Instead, they use logical reasoning.

There are a vast amount of puzzle pieces that don't seem to fit together; chairs moving on their own, the emergency lights flickering at inopportune times, Tony almost being pushed down the stairs by nothing. It just doesn't add up.

“Magnetism,” Bruce suddenly says, earning him looks from both Natasha and Rhodey.

“As in…magnets?” Rhodey clarifies with slight hesitation.

“As in a magnetic field. Maybe more than one,” Bruce expands his stream of consciousness to help the others understand. The beginning of his explanation appears to already convince them and they quickly catch on.

“Everything was metal,” Natasha notes as she starts to piece it together. “The fuse box, Tony’s suit, the chairs.” Everything starts to make more and more sense. As she lists them off, Rhodey slowly nods to himself in understanding.

“I can't believe we missed that,” he thinks aloud accompanied by a humorless chuckle. Bruce gets to work pulling up a specific section of footage from earlier to confirm his hypothesis. He was approaching it all wrong with a completely different outlook. If he searches early in the day instead of right before the blackout, he should find their culprits.

“I’ll update the teams,” Natasha says as she hastily walks back to her post.

“Careful using the comms, they could be tapped,” Rhodey reminds, to which she curtly nods without looking back. Rather than waiting around while Bruce finds what they need, he offers his help. “Give me some footage to go through. We’ll find them faster.” Bruce doesn't need any further prompting before distributing the holographic screens between them. Now that they have a solid lead, unrelated to ghosts, they can finally figure this out and maybe even get enough information to give the teams an advantage.

**SUBLEVEL 1, TEAM TONY: 3:15 AM**

Tony, Peter, and Clint reach the first Sublevel of the Tower, officially venturing underground. Thankfully, they can't even tell with the lack of illumination and they're almost to the arc reactor regardless.

“So,” Peter continues his train of thought, “I’m one hundred percent a Boogara.” Clint nods in agreement, egging him on much to Tony’s dismay. “You're a Boogara too, but Mr. Stark is obviously a Shaniac.”

“Do I want to know what those mean?” Tony reluctantly asks against his better judgement.

“Long story short, Boogaras believe in ghosts and Shaniacs don't,” Clint provides. The group has calmed down since the incident in the stairwell, but it created an entire debate between Peter and Clint over which Avengers are Boogaras and which are Shaniacs.

“And you think Captain Rogers is a Shaniac,” Peter says as if he wasn't interrupted, “but I think he's a secret Boogara. Dr. Banner is a Shaniac, I could see Ms. Romanoff as a Boogara but I think Shaniac fits her, and Colonel Rhodes is a no nonsense Shaniac. Mr. Barnes is, like, a very casual Boogara, I think. He doesn't think everything’s a ghost but doesn't think they aren't real. But then Mr. Wilson could totally be Boogara who just doesn't want ghosts to be real. Did you hear how freaked out he got? He believes in ghosts but he doesn't _ want _to.” His ramblings fill the silence until the reach the ladder to descend further to the arc reactor sublevel. Clint stares down at what looks like an abyss without the proper lighting. The small hole that links the two floors is pitch black.

“Can't say I’m thrilled,” he comments under his breaths. Vents he can do all day long, but a ladder that leads to what may or may not be the deepest recesses of Hell? No thanks. Tony ignores his complaining and starts climbing down.

“I know it’s _ technically _not a basement, but, like, we’re going even more underground. That's horror movie no-no number one,” Peter feels the need to point out. He anxiously rubs his gloved hands together as he watches Tony disappear into the hole. Clint pats Peter's back encouragingly and urges him to go in next. It takes a few brief moments of psyching himself up, but Peter is able to get himself to go next.

He hates the tight, cramped feeling as he climbs down and the darkness only serves to make it that much more suffocating. Fortunately for him, the ladder is relatively short so he's on the next level before he can panic. He takes a steadying breath once his feet hit the floor and, thankfully, the unbelievably massive arc reactor provides a blue glow to the room.

“Woah…” Peter breathes, his eyes going wide at the core. “That's wicked.” Clint then joins them, looking around as well.

“Spidey, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore,” he quotes. The next thing his eyes land on is the fuse box from F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s surveillance video.

“Careful,” Tony speaks up, “he only understands Star Wars references.” He allows a hint of his humor to show, noticing how nervous the kid was mere moments ago. Peter whips around to give him an incredulous look.

“Hey! I know references!” he immediately defends. “It’s that old movie filmed in three-strip Technicolor about a wizard.” Tony snorts and Clint turns around to face the two, obviously insulted.

“You know all that but don't remember the name?” Clint reiterates, pointing out how ridiculous the notion is.

“Speaking of wizards,” Peter chooses to bring up instead, shooting Tony a playful grin. Tony is having absolutely none of it.

“Nice try but we’re _ not _ asking the wannabe wizard for help. Not happening.” He would never admit it but maybe it’s a matter of pride for him. If anyone can figure out what’s happening it _ his _ tower, it’s _ him. _ But his confidence is wavering. He’s running on no sleep, has been awake for thirty-eight hours straight, and has no idea what to think.

“Okay, Mr. Stark,” Peter easily gives in. This piques Clint’s suspicion, there’s no way Peter would cave that quickly. Tony seems to sense it too as his eyes narrow skeptically. “Hey, Karen?”

“Don't you dare,” Tony warns.

“Can you call May for me, please?” As soon as Peter requests it, rather innocently, Tony’s expression morphs into one of confusion.

“Of course, Peter,” Karen sweetly responds before the ringing begins. Tony is almost tempted to wait and see what Peter is trying to pull, then again May does work early hospital shifts. He remembers they're kind of on a time-sensitive mission and walks past the kid to the fuse box.

“Fri, show me the flow of energy. Gotta figure out which ones are out of commission,” he orders while his mask slides down and gets to work fixing it. Clint readies his bow, just in case, and leans towards Peter.

“Are you actually calling your aunt?” he inquires curiously. Peter’s irreproachable smile only widens.

“This had better be important,” a deep, gruff voice laced with sleep answers Peter’s call

“Hi, May!” Peter greets far too cheerily. Stephen rubs his tired eyes with his free fingers and tries to not groan. This has reached far beyond the realm of ridiculous.

“Peter,” he starts with as much patience as possible, “it’s three in the morning…and I'm not your aunt.” If it were anyone else, he would've hung up by now. Actually, he wouldn't have answered in the first place. Yet here he is, on the phone with a sixteen-year-old at 3:32 am.

“Technically speaking, time is a relative social construct,” Peter counters without missing a beat. Stephen sighs and runs a hand down his face, his eyes still closed.

“What do you want,” he reiterates in more of a demand than a question. His frustration is evident, but it doesn't detract Peter’s enthusiasm.

“Oh, just calling to let you know we’re having a ghost problem here at the Tower,” Peter informs pointedly. Tony is too focused on fixing the fuse box to care. He continues rewiring the unit as if nothing was said, but Clint has rapidly caught onto what Peter is trying to do.

“Ghosts?” Stephen double checks. “As in spirits?” His interest has been grabbed, but not quite enough to do anything about it…yet.

“Yeah!” Peter exclaims, then lowers his voice to keep Tony from hearing. “Okay, so we woke up to the alarms going off but F.R.I.D.A.Y. said nothing triggered them and then the power went out for, like, the lower thirty floors so we split up into groups to find out why and Mr. Stark, Mr. Barton, and I are down in the arc reactor place but some freaky stuff has been happening. And I mean _ super _freaky. And I know you have a thing with magic and, well, strange stuff, Dr. Strange, sir.” Contrary to his rambling, Stephen is surprisingly perceptive. Tony, however, picks up on the name.

“What’d you just say?” His tone practically challenges Peter to confirm his suspicion.

“‘Freaky’ as in paranormal?” Stephen clarifies even though he's fully aware of Tony’s presence.

“Uh huh! Mr. Stark doesn't believe in ghosts but we totally talked to one through radio frequencies and it told us to ‘get out’ and ‘run away’ and Captain Roger’s team had chairs and tables thrown at them!” Peter urgently relays without so much as a breath in between words. Clint can't help but chuckle at the teen’s vigor, then at the way Tony’s demeanor takes on a parental aura as he stalks shakes his head at Peter.

“Sounds like a poltergeist,” Stephen thinks aloud.

“You think so?! ‘Cause that’d be- Hey!” Peter’s HUD suddenly lights up with a message flashing the words “call transferred.

“My apologies,” Karen’s voice fills his ears. “Tony Stark has transferred the call to his suit.” Peter glances over to Tony, who is still working on the fuse box.

“Welcome to the shit show,” Tony greets sarcastically. “Yes I'm aware of the time. _ No, _ I'm not- is this necessary right now? You really wanna do this?” Even though neither Peter nor Clint can hear the conversation, they can both tell that Stephen doesn't have the same level of patience with Tony. The two look at each other knowingly.

“Fri!” they call in unison. On command, F.R.I.D.A.Y. puts the call on speaker for all three to hear.

“Flying chairs, hm?” Stephen repeats in a questioning manner. His eyelids are slightly lowered, but his gaze still holds its intensity as he awaits an answer.

“And,” Peter gestures haphazardly in the air, “spooky voices. Really spooky.” he elaborates timidly. Stephen raises an eyebrow, but Tony cuts in.

“Keep your insanity down to a dull roar. I'm actually trying to solve problems over here.” He's obviously fed up with everything as he repairs as fast as he can. Then again, he gets to that point eventually.

“What kind of voices?” Stephen continues nonetheless. If he can get the proper information, he can figure this out.

“Uh, like, we used radio frequencies like the spirit box on _ BuzzFeed Unsolved _and it told us to ‘get out.’ Super creepy,” Peter does his best to recount. Clint nods slightly in agreement, only causing Stephen’s serious expression to deepen.

“I need to do something. It'll take some time,” Stephen says as he gets to work on his end, no nonsense as always. The call promptly ends and the dial tone is all that's heard. They're left in silence for a few moments until Tony regains his composure.

“I really don't like him,” he grumbles as he finished the repairs. That's when Peter’s Spidey Sense goes off.

“Look out!” he yells before tackling Clint to the floor. An explosion of pops rip through the air as bullets fly over the two. _ Oh my god, we were just shot at! _Peter frantically thinks to himself. He keeps his head down until he hears the bullets ping off various metal supports, leaving him and Clint unharmed. After that, the heroes’ instincts kick in.

There’s no hesitation when Tony aims and fires his repulsors, hitting one of the gunmen. In the same moment, Clint lets loose an arrow from his spot on the floor that nails the second gunman. On impact, the arrowhead expands and distributes an electric shock. The last assailant is taken out by a series of Peter’s Rapid Fire Webs, which encases the man in thick layers of webbing and sticks him to the far wall. Just like that, in the blink of an eye, all three gunmen are immobilized.

Peter stands, effortlessly helping Clint to his feet, and looks around warily. He almost expects there to be something more challenging.

“Is that it?” Clint asks in general, seemingly with the same thought process as Peter.

‘That was underwhelming,” Tony chimes in to agree. Still, the buzzing of Peter’s Spidey Sense only subsides minutely. That light sensation of dread spreading across his skin as worry seeps in.

“Mr. Stark? I, I think something else is wrong,” he speaks up as soon as he feels it. Luckily, Tony finishes fixing the fuse box and his faceplate lifts up at Peter’s words.

“Where?” he asks for a further explanation as he switches the fuses back to their positions. With his movement, the enormous arc reactor glows slightly brighter and the lights above them flicker back to life. “See? Problem solved! Feel free to thank me, F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s always recording.” He sobers when he notices the look of concentration on Peter's face.

“It's far but…not like before. This time I know it's some kind of danger, but it's far away.” Peter does his best to put the feeling into cohesive words. They don't have time to dwell on it before a voice is talking into their ears.

“Everyone, we think we have it figured out. Most of it,” Natasha interrupts, cutting right to the chase.

“Kind of busy right now, Nat!” Steve says through clenched teeth. There's a loud commotion on his end of the comms; grunts of effort and tings of ricocheted metal.

“Have you guys upgraded from chairs to TVs being thrown at you?” Clint banters, but there's an underlying concern to his tone.

“Ambush,” Bucky’s voice comes through instead, making everyone except Natasha go silent.

“Do you need backup?” Natasha offers instantaneously. Another crash comes through and Sam can be heard yelling impatiently in the background.

“No,” Steve answers resolutely. “We had it covered and the lights give us more of an advantage than we already had.” The distinct sound of his shield bouncing off the environment serves as enough proof.

“No sweat.” Sam effortlessly agrees. “These guys think they're gonna get out of this after attacking us? Not on my watch.” A mere few moments later, the commotion comes to a halt.

“You were saying?” Steve prompts Natasha as if his team didn't just take down the threat they've been searching for all night. Still, Natasha is unphased and lets Bruce explain.

“It's all magnets,” Bruce starts off, immediately causing skepticism. “It makes sense considering all the signs. Steve, your group was attacked _ metal _ chairs and a _ metal _ table. Someone on the floor below you could have used a magnet to drag the chairs across the floor.” His reasoning goes over some heads, but Peter and Tony are quick to catch on.

“Like when you move a magnet on either side of a piece of paper!” Peter exclaims. “I would play with magnets at school and move one underneath my desk and it'd move the one on top! People at school thought it was magic.” He has a sense of pride in his voice for getting the concept.

“If they created an electromagnetic field, they could've easily pulled that stunt off,” Tony puts it together, mentally kicking himself for not noticing sooner.

“Not just that,” Rhodey chimes in, “but it explains the fuse box flying open. If they directed the magnetism…” he lets the proposition hang in the air.

“They could've opened it off screen,” Sam takes a deep breath, “making it look like ghosts when it's not.” He hasn't ever been so thankful in his life.

“Exactly,” Rhodey confirms. “Then they overload the fuses and _ bam, _lights out. And it turns out they worked for you, Tones. That’s how they set everything up. Probably used some of your tech too.” Still, something doesn't sit right…

“What about when Tony was pushed?” Clint counters. “Last I checked, gold and titanium aren't very magnetic.” He makes a good point, but Peter energetically explains.

“Y’see, gold in its bulk form isn't magnetic, but it is _ diamagnetic. _If an external magnetic field is used on something diamagnetic, a magnetic dipole moment is created in the opposite direction of the field!” Ironically, he stops his own rambling this time. His excited smile drops when he realizes what he's done. “Wait…did I just disprove my whole ghost theory?” Tony smiles triumphantly and pats the disappointed teen’s shoulder.

“Told you so. Nice work, Einstein,” he praises, much to Peter’s dismay. Peter pouts with a huff.

“Man, this sucks.” In that moment, orange and gold sparks spring into existence and expand into a circle wide enough for Stephen to walk through. He closes the portal behind him in a swift hand motion without a word. Peter smiles at the way Stephen still has his pajamas on, yet also has the Cloak of Levitation around his shoulders.

“Well, this took a turn,” Clint murmurs to Peter. “Wish I had some popcorn.” Stephen faces the two, opting to ignore Tony entirely.

“I've come with answers.” Despite him returning, he doesn't appear all that invested. If anything, he looks arguably bored.

“Did you just come all the way out here just to tell us that when you could've just said it _ over the phone?” _Tony questions in disbelief. However, Stephen’s face doesn't waver for an instant.

“Yes. It annoys you, which was reason enough.” With that, he turns his back on the man.

“Ah ah,” Tony interjects in spite of Stephen’s not-so-subtle hints. “Nice try, but we figured it out. Logically. By ourselves. _ Without _your supernatural mumbo jumbo. So you can feel free to escort yourself out with your sparklers.” To say he's smug is the understatement of the century. Peter and Clint look between them, thoroughly entertained by the banter back and forth.

“There isn't a poltergeist in the facility,” Stephen confirm along the lines of the general consensus. Tony smirks triumphantly, only for Stephen to continue. “But there is a ghost.” Tony’s smirk drops.

“Wait, what?” Bruce mumbles in shock, hearing everything through the comms.

“This guy better be wrong or I'm gonna lose my mind,” Sam’s voice travels as well, carrying his temperament.

“Really?! A real ghost?!” Peter questions hopefully, the change in his lenses portraying his excitement. Stephen simply nods.

“James Buchanan Barnes.” With his words, the comms go dead silent. However, Peter is the first to put together what Stephen is implying. His jaw drops and his eyes widen in sudden realization.

“Holy crap…” he says breathlessly, “you watch_ BuzzFeed Unsolved.” _Clint immediately busts up laughing at the irony of it all and there's indistinct chatter on the other end of the comms.

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Tony whispers to himself. “God, there's two of them.” He rubs his forehead and tries to fight the headache he knows will inevitably come.

“That's so awesome!” Peter continues to fanboy without taking a breath. “How’d you find it?! How many seasons have you watched?! Do you prefer True Crime or Supernatural?! Do you like the Hotdaga?! Wait, are you a Boogara or a Shaniac?! I could, like, see you being both!” Stephen genuinely considers Peter’s questions.

“Wong introduced me to it, most of them, True Crime, no, and…Boogara, if I had to choose. Ghosts are real, but I don't go around saying everything is a ghost.” As the two converse, Tony feels as if he somehow stepped into a parallel universe. It truly is the worst possible timeline.

“Wouldn't have guessed Boogara,” Clint admits while nodding in approval. “Welcome to the club.”

“Glad to know I'm the butt of tonight’s jokes,” Bucky says, not interested in the topic but intrigued enough to listen.

“Hey, Dr. Strange,” Peter pesters, practically vibrating with enthusiasm. Stephen raises an eyebrow. “Mr. Stark connected the dots.” The teen can barely hold back his overwhelming smile as Stephen scoffs.

“He didn't connect shit,” Stephen smoothly quotes. This manages to grab Tony's attention and he looks up with an incredulous expression.

“You have something to say, say it to my face,” he challenges, unafraid to face a guy wearing a cloak with his pajamas. Peter, on the other hand, is absolutely losing it and it’s easy to tell he’s grinning under his mask.

“A wizard quoting _ BuzzFeed Unsolved! _This is the greatest day of my life!” he squeals.

“I hope you're satisfied,” Tony grumbles. “I actually thought you were being serious.” To think he came _ this _close to thinking a ghost could be in his Tower. Absurd. Stephen looks over his shoulder at him with an impassive expression.

“I said you don't have a poltergeist. You definitely have a haunting,” he deadpans. The blood practically drains from Tony’s face. Peter’s jaw drops for the second time and Clint is successfully shocked into silence.

“Is he being serious?” Rhodey whispers, to which Natasha answers,

“Entirely serious.” She can tell, which makes it all the more amusing. Rhodey and Bruce aren't necessarily believers in ghosts, but Natasha was always on the fence. It’s hard not to be swayed at this point.

“Nope. I'm moving out. I'm not staying somewhere haunted. I'm not dealing with ghosts,” Sam instantly starts rejecting the entirety of the situation. This is the absolute worst case scenario for him, even though he wouldn't really move out. Will he be having a good night sleep for the next few days, though? Not likely. Steve had an inkling this was the case…he had just hoped that his inkling was wrong. Still, he has dealt with worse than ghosts.

“They tried to warn you,” Stephen reasons as the silence draws out. “‘Get out,’ ‘run away.’ You're the one who didn't listen.” He makes a good point, but to be fair those are easily misconstrued statements.

“Woah, Mr. Stark can Ned, MJ, and I do ghost hunting in the Tower?! Please!” Peter pleads, just about ready to bounce off the walls in anticipation. Tony might lose his mind.

“You can get rid of it, right?” he carefully questions Stephen, who doesn't even bat an eye. Natasha, exhausted beyond belief after staying awake to handle everyone, says a quick, “Night” before shutting the comms off.

“You were watching _ BuzzFeed Unsolved _before this?” Stephen directs at Peter and Clint instead, knowing the lack of acknowledgement will drive Tony insane.

“Yeah! You haven't watched them all, right? I’ll watch with you if you wanna catch up,” Peter happily offers, finally taking off his mask. His hair floofs out as he turns to Clint. “Want to watch with us?” Clint yawns and puts his hands behind his head.

“No amount of espresso could keep me up after this. I'm going straight to bed,” he answers honestly.

“I swear, if you ignore me after telling me there's a _ ghost _ in my Tower,” Tony cuts back in, trying to get Stephen’s attention. Of course, Stephen prefers to see Tony’s reactions as opposed to helping.

“I’ll tell Wong,” Stephen confirms as Clint climbs out of the arc reactor level. Tony stands dumbfounded while he’s ignored and Peter is the next to climb up the ladder.

“You and the kid are going to kill me one day.” He promises, shaking his head. “Hope you're enjoying this while it lasts ‘cause payback’s a-”

“Relax,” Stephen interrupts, looking back one last time with a slight, smug smile. “It could've been worse, Tony. I could have told you about the demonic presence.” On that note, he follows the others, leaving Tony in shock. Sweat starts to bead up on Tony’s forehead as the words sink in. He’s quick to keep up with the group, fiercely calling Stephen’s name as he does so. No way in hell is he being left alone after hearing that, and he probably won't sleep for a week.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I loved writing it❤🧡💛💚💙💜
> 
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